Process of glossing yarn.



UNITED r OFFICE.

JAMES HENRY ASHWELL, OF NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF GLOSSING YARN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0 713,936, dated November18, 1902.

Application filed July 12, 1902. Serial No- 115646. ($pccimens.)

2'0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JAMES HENRY ASH- WELL, dyer and bleacher, a subjectof the King of Great Britain, and a resident of No. 117 WaterlooCrescent, Forest, Nottingham, England, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in the Treatment or Finishing of Yarn, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The present in vention relates more particularly to the treatment ofyarn of cotton with the object of altering and improving the quality andappearance of the same. It is, however, also applicable to the treatmentof other yarns, such as flax, rhea, and hemp.

According to my invention the treatment consists in subjecting the yarnto a series of operations, partly chemical and partly mechanical,carried out in such a way as to produce the results desired.

The first step of the treatment is the wetting of the yarn (which ispreferably unbleached) with water and the extraction from it of theexcess of water, leavingit in a moist condition. The moist yarn is thensteeped in a bath of caustic soda or potash of 20 to 35 Baum. Aftersteeping for about two hours in the bath the yarn is removed and thesurplus solution extracted carefully by means of a centrifugal orsimilar machine. After this preparation the yarn, in hanks, is placedupon pairs of glass-enameled rollers, which serve to stretch the yarnand move it gradually during the subsequent operations. The rollerscarrying the yarn are mounted in a closed chamber and are furnished withmeans for raising and lowering them and for rotating them backward andforward, as required. The means for effecting these movements may be ofany convenient kind. Into yarn.

two to five hours, during which time the hanks are kept moving to andfro on their rollers. The yarn at this stage is a cellulosethio-carbonate and is in the condition of a more or less gummy yellowthread and is very elastic. The carbon disulfid is now removed and theyarn dried by driving a current of warm dry air through the hanks. Thereconversion of the yarn into cellulose in a proper state for use iseffected by boiling it for about an hour in a solution of common salt(N01) or sulfate of sodium (Na SO or a mixture of these. This completesthe 'treatment, except for the final washing and drying, after which theyarn may be softened by any well-known process.

I may here remark that by varying the proportions of the mixtures andthe duration of the operations within the limits above given certainmodifications in the final product will result, the tendency being toinsure by the employment of the full strengths and durations the highestresults and by curtailing the same to obtain results proportionatelyless complete. After having been thus treated the yarn will be found tobe glossier, finer, and stronger than the same yarn untreated.

What I claim as my invention is The process of treating yarn consistingin the six stages herein described, viz: first, moistening it withwater; second, steeping it while moist in a solution of caustic soda;third, extracting the surplus solution from it; fourth, submitting it toa confined atmosphere of carbon disulfid at a temperature of about 90 to120 Fahrenheit; fifth, drying it, and, sixth, converting it intocellulose by boiling in a salt solution.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES HENRY ASHWELL.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM DORGAN, ROBERT BooTHs.

